V exciting OddEyes and BabyPringle. Might well be a lively thread tonight. Pringle, they are being a bit arbitrary about the 36+6 thing, and I bet if you made a big fuss you would be able to get the water birth anyway. It's ridiculous to think that less than 8h makes a difference to maturity at this stage. My mw said she would do a home water birth any time after 36 weeks, btw.
Rant alert on more prosaic matters now as I am ensconced in the glidey chair upstairs and very cross. So DS1 at home sick, AP goes off to language school for class 11.30-1. I am not well enough to get Tummy Tub in the morning without making her late for class, so ask her to leave early and collect Tummy Tub on her way in, as the lady lives right by her language school (3 miles from our house, 20 mins on bike, used to be my daily commute). I tell her I need to leave by 2.30 at the latest to get to DS2's class assembly, so she needs to get back before then.
2.30 comes and goes (1.5 hours after the end of her class) and she doesn't turn up or answer her phone. I have no idea where she is. I have to put DS1 in car and take him to the school. Have to park in staff car park and leave him in there (he has diarrhoea so not allowed on site for 48 hours).
Use crutches to get into school, very painful. Everyone already in the hall, stare at me as I make slow, painful progress with gritted teeth. Comment from head teacher about how nice it is to see me walking again (!) I reply with thin lips that it's because I can't get the wheelchair out of the car by myself.
Make for vacant seat near door, only to be told by stupid father of someone in DS2's class that he is saving seat for his wife (he is the one who with said wife abandoned his daughter at our swimming party for DS2 last year without telling anyone he was going off, leaving her without anyone to dry and change her until the other mums realised and took pity on her - I was busy doing the food). I then manoeuvre myself to the back of the hall eventually. He makes a big fuss asking me 'what have you done to your leg?' over and over again, dead loud. I tell him I do not want to discuss my health. I resist the urge to tell him to fuck off, which bit of 9 months pg and disabled didn't he understand. I just say it in my head.
AP then rings me 4 minutes after the beginning of class assembly, at 4.49pm. She said she was only five minutes late. I say it may only have been five minutes, but it was a very important five minutes and caused a lot of related problems for us.
She then comes down to collect DS1 from car. House has to be left unattended, which is the exact 30 minutes window where the occupational health people decide to try to deliver my replacement bath lift (other one doesn't work). So no bath lift until Wed next week now. Had a fall a couple of days ago getting into bath and had nasty contractions after that, so bathing situation currently very hairy. No hot water Wed to Fri next week because of belated boiler replacement.
I then come back home with DS2 and ask AP why she was late. I got the 'only five minutes' thing again and then she claimed it had taken 1.5 hours to cycle 3 miles with the Tummy Tub on the bike. Yeah right. It was in a carrier bag which you would just put over the handlebars, nothing very complicated. Size of a large bucket. What she didn't say is that she probably didn't pick it up before class as instructed, but left it until afterwards, and did not leave straight after class, as instructed, probably deciding to socialise for a bit instead, and tried to do it all at the last minute, not taking into account that it might take her five minutes longer than usual.
I am now sitting very grumpily upstairs and fed up with it all. I do not suffer fools gladly when I am grumpy. I want to hit them one by one with my crutches and draw blood.